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Harvey Beaks Review/Transcript
Fee: 'I just don't get it...why isn't he here? ''(Shows Fee opening a box of her deceased friend's belongings, she starts crying and hugs her brother Foo as he and Harvey comfort her) (Intro) Oh boy, did I get a lot of requests for an Admirable Animation on this one back when it was airing! People spoke really ''highly of ''Harvey Beaks, saying things like it was "the savior of Nickelodeon" back in the day. Back before The Loud House ''stole that title. Let's just say you guys gave this one a lotta hype to live up to, and that's kind of a problem for me. Or for any reviewer. When people build something up as "the greatest thing ever" or "the greatest thing in a very long time" again and again, it makes it nearly impossible for something ''not ''to be disappointing. Not that ''Harvey Beaks ''is disappointing. Enough time has passed that the effect has, definitely waned. A lot more than it would have been if I reviewed it back in the day in 2015 or 2016. However, I can't promise that that feeling is gone completely. Because...on all honesty, I don't think that ''Harvey Beaks ''is a great show. I think it's...okay. On the good side of "okay" like, a "seven out of ten good" kind of show. "Good, not great" is how I would describe this show. Although, I do get why people would think that ''I'd ''personally like this show like it's some sort of apotheosis of animation. It's unlike any other Nicktoon that was on at the time. You know, the Nicktoons full of loud noises, grossout, juvenile humor, and...terrible writing. ''Harvey Beaks ''stood out by being incredibly low-key, subtle, and quiet. In a way it's similar to ''Hey Arnold! ''and ''As Told by Ginger. In other ways though, it-it's not. Like...at all. But let's take this one step at a time. Let's start with the animation. I'm just gonna say it, because this is gonna be distracting if I don't. Harvey Beaks looks like a Breadwinner. Maybe a Breadwinner drawn by someone who actually knows how to draw, but...still. The only reason that he doesn't look like a frog is because they drew him blue instead of green. Seriously, if you're making a bird as your main character, you can't just substitute a beak for lips. It looks awkward and it's not reminiscent of a bird at all. I really do hope that this trend has died out, and we start having more birds that look like Daffy than Buhdeuce. I mean that's not the show's only problem with the animation. The expressions are often not interesting. While the characters all have different head shapes, they all emote in the exact same way, and it can be really restrictive. All the expressions look too similar. If these characters were humans and not animals, the only way that you'd be able to tell them apart is probably with their clothing and hairstyles. This is a problem that plagues many shows to the point where we have a name for it, called "Only Six Faces," but that doesn't mean that it's not a problem here. But other than that, the animation is definitely passable. It looks appealing. It's not...really distracting in any way other than the ways that I just mentioned. Let's talk about the tone. ''Harvey Beaks ''is a very low-key show. Some would say...too low-key. ''I'' would say too low-key. It's not as bad as Doug, but, what I'm going to say...might piss off some fans of Harvey Beaks, because it sounds a lot worse than the way I mean it. In terms of '''tone, this show most reminded me of Franklin and Little Bear. Those two shows are very similar shows, to the point where you'd mistake one for the other. The thing is...both of those shows are well, aimed at preschoolers. They're about small slice-of-life problems and very, very simple morals. And the tone of Harvey Beaks ''really does feel like it's in the same vein, albeit aimed at an older audience. A lot of people compare ''Harvey Beaks ''to ''Hey Arnold!, and superficially, the tone does seem similar, but the difference is in the stakes. Hey Arnold! ''had episodes that dealt with family abuse, illiteracy, a character that faked his own death. I can't see something like that 'ever 'happening in ''Harvey Beaks. The show is way ''too innocent for that. The show seems more focused on being "cute" rather than being involving or interesting. Making a slice-of-life show is a fine line to straddle without making it boring. I can't say that ''Harvey Beaks ''is ''entirely boring, but I will say that as a result, it seems to be aiming at a younger audience than most other Nicktoons. I've been a little bit harsh. So I will say, for the record, I do not think this is something like "a preschool show disguised as an actual full-fledged Nicktoon," like Robot and Monster ''was or anything like that. It definitely has...some things in common unfortunately, but ''Harvey Beaks ''is definitely much more interested in being an all-ages show. Because, this show tries to invoke a sense of childhood nostalgia. The keyword being "tries." ''Harvey Beaks ''exists in a world of endless summers, where nothing bad ever happens, and the conflicts were simple tasks and learning the simplest things about learning about life, i.e. the childhood that you nor anyone else has ever had, and only exists in the mind of highly nostalgic adults. ''Harvey Beaks ''is a show that can easily appeal to someone who longs for their past, but in a way that makes it far from "objective reality." Even in terms of what's appropriate for a show about childhood. ''Harvey Beaks ''is a small show about small stories. This is not childhood. Childhood...is big. That's the one defining aspect of it. Not just people, but the world as a whole. Conflicts that seem so small to us now, back in the day, were 'enormous. The biggest and most tense things that we've ever come across. That's why even though Kids Next Door ''exists in a far more fictional world, it seems to have a better grasp on what it actually was like to grow up. But if that example is too fantastical, there's a reason that ''Recess ''is also a show that's more interesting to me than this one. It understands just, the culture that people had growing up as kids. Now, is this a problem that ruins the show as a whole? Not really I think. It's just a matter of taste, and unfortunately the taste...isn't something that's mine. I don't really have much of a use for shows that specifically invoke nostalgia, rather than invoking childhood. I am definitely glad that I didn't review this back in the day when people were demanding me to. I don't know what I would say about it or...even how I would articulate what I feel about it. If there is a flaw that keeps me from enjoying this show, it's that it's too...innocent. This has a lot to do with the main character Harvey Beaks himself. He's incredibly innocent to the point where his idea of rebellion is leaving a gate door ajar. Fee and Foo are far more troublemaking, but it's not enough to pull the show out of total innocence. As Harvey frequently ignores or misunderstands what they try and get him to do. If you're doing these simple morality tales, the main character...does have to screw up occasionally and do something actually bad. You can't have a story about learning not to steal, if the character never ever steals and already knows that it's a bad thing to do. I can certainly appreciate a slower pace or a quieter tone or...innocent conflicts. However, I don't think that I can appreciate all three at once. Like I said, this show is fine, but it's just one of those that's...clearly not for me. And now we get to the part of the video where we find out how Nickelodeon screwed ''this ''show up! Well this is a fun story! Nickelodeon cancelled off ''Harvey Beaks ''and started airing the remaining episodes on the sister network, Nicktoons! Which...let-let's just call it what it is: Nickelodeon's graveyard. But in doing so, they didn't tell the creator, C.H. Greenblatt, and he found out through a Tweet. He was not too pleased and let his complaints be known on a Tumblr post that no longer exists. It no longer exists because Nickelodeon not only forced him to remove it, but to issue a public apology on the matter. You know...it's really fascinating learning that like, virtually every single Nicktoon has been screwed over in one way or another throughout the entire run of the show. No, seriously, the problem started at like episode 7. And now here we are at show 41. And-and Nickelodeon is still doing this to this day! To reiterate, I'm not the biggest fan of ''Harvey Beaks, but, there is no show that deserved treatment like this. Even shows that are obscenely bad like Sanjay and Craig. There has got to be a more tactful way of taking down a show. I mean, it'd be semi-understandable if the only shows thrown onto the Nicktoons Graveyard were unpopular, but no! Sometimes they're popular, sometimes they're not. I can only assume that it's network politics. This one is a good example of that. Nickelodeon wanted this show to be an instant ''Spongebob ''level of success, something that only happened once, in '''20 years, with The Loud House. There's a saying that should be branded on every single wall in Nickelodeon's headquarters: "Perfect is the enemy of the good." By always looking for the perfect, next huge mega showstopper, you are killing everything of quality. When Harvey Beaks ''wasn't this dominant force, they started moving around time slots and shoved it out to sea. And yes, I-I-I know that me talking about how every single show getting screwed over is getting old. I-It's getting old for me too, I hate hearing the same story '''over '''and over again. If you are a creative, do not give your shows to Nickelodeon. Regardless of what you think of the shows themselves, the network politics are crap, possibly more so than any other network. '''Announcer: '''Don't go away! Coming up next on Nickelodeon... ''(Shows clip of The Loud House intro) 'Lily: '''Poo poo! ''(End Credits Theme: "Harvey Beaks Trap Remix" by Jakeneutron) Category:Nick-o-Rama Category:Transcripts